Getting started:
On November 11, I started building a boat... which is becoming a
euphemism for "I currently have no social life" (that is, no social
life because I'm building a boat, not the other way around).
I bought plans for a
Freedom 17 tripper canoe from Bear Mountain Boats,
cleaned out my garage woodshop and started making sawdust. So far I'm
really enjoying it. I used to do woodworking for a living, but have
discovered I enjoy it much more as a hobby. I wanted to share pictures
as I go along.

11/16-- Section molds. They were traced straight off
the blueprints and then cut out on a bandsaw. Notice the difference in
size between the two smallest forms. It really points the asymmetrical
design of the boat. These will be spaced at 12" intervals on the
strongback and the cedar strips are glued up around them.

11/23-- Milling strips: I cut 80 16' strips, and added
4' to the ends of 24 of them with an angled joint (6:1 scarf) across
the width to bring the length up to 20'. I figured I'd butt join the
rest of the shorter pieces. Since it's a 17' canoe, that's pretty much
all the rest.

Looking into the shop. There is exactly 20' from the
door to the back wall of the garage. (until I cleaned it out, a back
wall that's not seen daylight for nearly 25 years...). Once you figure
the thickness of wall and the garage door, I'll have one foot of space
on each end of the boat.

Router jig for cutting the cove and bead:
Brand new bits! Expensive, but well worth it. I built this router table
a couple of years ago but this is the first time I've really used it.
This setup worked quite well.